A MAN was shot by police today in a raid by anti-terrorist officers and MI5 on a suspected bomb factory.

Neighbours described seeing a man wearing a bloodstained T-shirt being carried out of the house following the raid.

The shot man was taken to hospital and is not in a life-threatening condition. A 23-year-old man was arrested and will be questioned later today.

The decision to launch the raid on a terrace property in Lansdown Road, Forest Gate, east London, followed discussions between the Security Service, the anti-terrorist branch and bio-chemical experts from the Health Protection Agency (HPA).

It followed intelligence about a suspected plot against the UK rather than abroad.

Precautions

But detectives do not believe there were any links to the July 7 bombings in London.

More than 200 police officers, some dressed in protective bio-chemical suits, are thought to have been involved in the raid.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said its officers at the scene were wearing protective clothing as a "precautionary measure" and the Health Protection Agency later described the risk to the public as "very low".

The Met spokesman said: "Public safety is a priority and at this stage there is nothing to suggest members of the public in the immediate area are at risk.

"If we believe there is a potential risk, appropriate action will be taken."

Home Secretary John Reid has been kept informed of developments since the police operation began at 4am.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott chaired a meeting in Downing Street this morning in which he was briefed on the situation.

At the scene of the raid, a white and yellow tent was erected in front of the house. Four ambulances and 10 police vans were parked nearby.

Protective suits

Police were still wearing protective suits and rubber protective boots over their shoes but residents had not been evacuated.

Speaking at the police cordon, a woman in her 50s, who has lived in Lansdown Road for more than 25 years, said a family lived at the address at the centre of the police raid.

The family consisted of a man and a woman and their four children, two girls and two boys, all aged in their teens, she said.

"They were respectable and nice people and we do not know anything else. They have always been nice to us," she said.

"They have lived there for a long time. The kids all go to school locally."

The woman said the property at the centre of the raid was a three-bedroom terrace home with a small garden at the rear.

Describing the moment the police arrived in the street, she said: "I looked through my window and I saw the police vehicles. They were coming very quietly. There wasn't any noise at all. I didn't hear any bangs."

One neighbour spoke of seeing a man in his late 20s wearing a bloodstained T-shirt being carried out of the house after the raid.

He said the operation early this morning had involved "the most police I've seen in my life", as well as officers wearing chemical protection suits.

The neighbour said he recognised the bloodied man carried out of the house but did not know him by name.

Bandage

A bloodstained bandage was still lying on the road outside his house and police were restricting residents' access to their homes, he added.

A woman living opposite the raided house said: "The police have put a tent up outside the house. There are 30 or 40 officers there. Last night there were over 100.

"I have seen the people who live there but they don't talk to us. They are Pakistani."

The neighbour, who asked not to be named, said police had been seen near the house about a week ago.

"There were three or four police vans there last week," she said.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has been informed about the shooting and the Metropolitan Police said it will "fully support" any independent investigation.

The injuries to the shot man are not life-threatening, a spokesman for the IPCC said.

"I can confirm that the incident was immediately referred to the IPCC and we have deployed two senior investigators," he said.

Dimple Hirani, 21, a student at London Metropolitan University, said she might have gone to school with one of the teenage boys from the family.

She said: "If it's the house I'm thinking of, I went to school with one of the lads. They were really nice lads and really nice people.

"I never thought anything of it. Lots of young Muslims these days are getting more religious, especially after 9/11. It's nothing to be suspicious about.

"It's a friendly area, especially this street. It's very friendly, we all know each other. We are very sociable people, this street in particular."

Witnesses

Ms Hirani said the school concerned was nearby Shaftesbury Primary School, where she knew the boy when they were aged 10.

She said the children were born in the UK.

Abdul Bawa is the chairman of the Islamic Da-Wah Council, which has an office, prayer rooms and bookshop in Katherine Road close to the incident scene.

He said the community was a mixture of people with backgrounds in Asia, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Somalia.

He said: "In this area there are nice people living here. If it is a terrorist raid, I am very surprised.

"I will be talking with our members over the next few days to try and find out what has happened.

"People need to be calm because we all follow the rules and regulations of the country, we are all law-abiding people living here for a long time.

'Sad'

"It's very sad when things like this happen in the community and when there's a problem we want to know what has happened."

Ferris Lindsay, 47, a teacher from east London, said he walked past the scene at 5am.

He said: "There were about six or seven police units, large vans full of men in Katherine Road.

"I could see them about 200 yards down the road. I was coming back from the hospital and all the roads were blocked."

Mr Lindsay said there had been another raid which might have been an anti-terrorist operation seven or eight months ago.